Trooper

I just saw this posted on edealinfo.com and thought I'd post it in this thread. At Good Guys: "Philips 60PP9352 60" Widescreen Digital Projection TV » only $1799.99 + Free Shipping " I've never seen this TV (haven't been looking) so you might want to check it out someplace nearby.

Seatle - This may or may not apply to your situation by I have found that most people (especially when new to home theater) expect to hear more from the surrounds than was intended. The way I try to describe the setup to people is that you shouldn't realize the surrounds are even there until you turn them off then you'll notice sound missing. I think generally if you have them setup in that fashion it's probably close to "correct". But if you need to turn them up to be happy then by all means do so. In the end what you like is "correct".

The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has oversight on power ratings. They don't really go looking for problems/cheaters though. Basically, someone has to file a complaint about a manufacturer in order for them to investigate. There is a rule for how power amp ratings are supposed to be measured and a required format for how the power ratings are presented to the customer. Very few companies follow the rules correctly - even if their power numbers are legit they may not present the specs "by the book".

Woohoo! Told ya so

Those aren't crossover settings those are tone controls. When you change it +/- you are boosting or cutting the amount of that frequency by "x"dB. Leaving them at 0 or detent is the best place to start and, in my opinion, is where they should stay if you don't really know what you're doing. Otherwise you can tweak them up or down to get the best sound. Just don't abuse them. As a rule of thumb, a few dB of adjustment could be warranted but if you set treble to +10 and bass to +10 you've just abused them and you're system probably doesn't sound all that good.

Whoa there! You are biamping already - two amp channels to the same speaker (one to the tweeter the other to the woofers). You're also using the passive crossovers built into the RF7. First of all, the active crossover you mention (as well as most others) are designed for pro/studio use that's why they are balanced. This is probably not how the rest of your system works. It's also not impossible to overcome and make everything work together if you really want. The bigger problem is you will totally change the voicing/sound of your speakers. Nowadays virtually no professionally designed speaker uses stock crossover slopes (i.e. 24db Linkwitz/Riley @ 2kHz). The Q of the filter is probably different. Also the high-pass filter (for the tweeter) and low pass (for the woofers) may not "meet" at the same point electricly. I.e. it may be @ 2100Hz for the tweeter and 1950Hz for the woofer or any of an infinite number of such combinations. But because of the "irregular" response nature of speaker drivers the acoustic crossover appears at 2000Hz. It can be very complicated - that's why only the pros (with lots of equipment) are much good at it.

Actually higher impedence (ohms) is easier to drive. If it can actually drive 6 ohm speakers then 8 ohm should be fine. I'm not sure what you did to get smoke from the speaker though.

Indeed, you don't have to worry about noise from low value resistors. Also, a 4 ohm Klipsch speaker's impedence NEVER drops anywhere near 1/2 ohm! Maybe some high-tech Martin Logan or Apogee but not Klipsch. I doubt it drops very near 2 ohms. While the 2ohm resistor is not a horrible idea I submit that since the speakers are for surrounds and will have signficantly less signal than the mains or center your Yamaha can probably drive them. And if there was a problem the Yamaha probably has protection circuitry built in. I would just run them from the receiver. As long as you don't abuse them everything will probably be fine.

New Aragon Stage One & 2007 review at: http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_2/aragon-stage-one-processor-5-2003.html

I have used several Hafler amps and preamps and always enjoyed them. I would not however consider investing anywhere close to $1000 to "upgrade" one. I have documentation/schematics for most of the DH-era models and can tell you they were a little ahead of the design curve at the time and most good solid state amps of today are based on the same topology Hafler used through the 80's and 90's. My own opinion is there is no inherent advantage to a newer amp. If anything I would suggest trying to find documentation from AudioXpress (formerly Audio Amateur) magazine on the POOGE (Progressive Optimization Of Generic Equipment) articles they used to publish. One of which was upgrades/mods for the DH200. These mods would not run anywhere near $1000 and may provide the same perceived benefit.

I wouldn't get too excited about these kind of receivers. Especially if you've already got something good like a Denon or HK 525. These "digital" amp chips are being made by a lot of people - non of which are known for great amps - and being used in mostly HTIB and small shelf systems. The DPR1001 isn't using some new HK developed amp circuit it's just off the shelf from someone like TI or Tripath. m00n, if you're really itching for a substantial upgrade (and aren't you always? ) start looking at separate amps and processors. Then next time the bug bites you could upgrade just the amps or just the processor or both! See, more upgrade paths. The downside is if you pick something like the Aragon Stage One and Aragon amps there's less room to move up next time .

Finishing my report for my senior design project during a thunderstorm. Lights flickered, computer locked up. I restarted the computer but it wouldn't boot. So I didn't have the typical problem of losing a paper I just couldn't get to it. Not even to print what was finished or save it to a disk to take it to another computer. The problem ended up being a surge fried the modem which took down the internal bus. Removing the modem allowed the computer to restart. Didn't figure that out until the next night.

---------------- On 3/27/2003 10:27:22 AM Tom Blasing wrote: The Monsoon system...wasn't that that 460 watt system put into a lot of Mustangs?? ---------------- That was the Mach 460 system. Mach was the brand name for Ford's internal electronics division. Started right after they parted ways with JBL. 460 watts was a bit of a stretch BTW.

Ah, a topic near and dear to my heart . In a past life I designed and worked on some of the very systems mentioned so far. Typically, Monsoon is a great system for the money. It's better in some vehicles than others. The VW Jetta and Buick Regal are pretty good examples. Levinson systems in Lexus are quite good (and expensive). They pack an incredible amount of technology and the best amplifier circuitry around. JBL and Infinity are kind of hit and miss. A systme that's actually very good, and it pains me to no end to admit it, is the B*se system in the '98 and newer Cadilac Seville. It's the reason Lexus pursued getting Mark Levinson. Now the B*se in the Caddy Deville is not good at all. Actually the "base" system which consists of a nine channel amp, 10" sub, etc. is way better. All of the Panasonic systems (Monte Carlo, GM trucks, etc.) are horrible! Typically their external amps put out less power and more distortion than the factoy head unit would by itself.

The "A Show of Hands" concert video was released on Laser disc (and VHS) in the early/mid 90's. Hopefully it will get released on DVD someday. It was no small task to obtain the Laser disc and remains about the only reason to keep that big player around.

How about an Adcom GFA535II amp for $60, Onkyo Integra tuner ($900 MSRP) for $40, Adcom GFP565 preamp for $100 or Onkyo Integra receiver for $1 (and the 50 cent part to fix it). Just some of the stuff I found at various Hamfests. There you know my secret. Just stay away from the ones I frequent.

---------------- ... For example, last year Blockbuster had the "Grinch" only in the 4:3 mode whether you rented it or bought it. It's competitor, Hollywood, had it for the same price but only in Widescreen. So, its back to caveat emptor ("let the buyer beware") when buying or renting... because all DVD's of a given movie are NOT created equal! =HornEd ---------------- That's exactly why I haven't seen "Grinch"! Blockbuster only had the P&S (pan and scan) version. I did receive the widescreen version for Christmas this year though. A couple of weeks ago while at Blockbuster I noticed a movie I thought would be great in the home theater ("K-19" I think) but they only had the P&S version...although they did have about 50 copies for rent. I didn't get it because it wasn't widescreen. I'm not a "widescreen snob" per se. Pre-DVD, I always hated it when the videotape started out with "This film has been modified to fit your screen"! Ugh!

It was a good Christmas. ---------------- To say the least. How are you enjoying your harman gear? ---------------- I've only had time to try the DVD player. I had been using my original Pioneer (non-progressive scan) and quickly hooked up the HK; ready for video nirvana. It was not to be. Very washed out looking. Had to use a setup DVD and adjust all the TV settings to dial it in. After that it looks great. I was just surprised to see such a difference between DVD players. Even switching the HK between 480p and 480i causes quite a color and brightness difference. The player doesn't do DVD-A or SACD but I got a great deal on it. I had heard great things about HK's progressive scan and the setup menus and remote are much better than Pioneer. I'll try out the amp after I find time to run speaker and control wires to the kitchen, dining room, family room, etc.

I love DVD. Greatest thing since sliced bread. But... If you buy the widescreen version of a DVD because you spent $3k on a 16:9 HDTV you would think they would master the DVD entirely in widescreen format. What I've found is the menu is almost always in 4:3 format which means the top and bottom get cut off on the widescreen TV. This wouldn't be a big deal except I've watched several movies where they placed the menu selections (play movie, scene selection, extras, etc.) along the top or bottom and I can't see them until I track down the TV remote and cycle through the screen formats. Then I have to cycle back through to where I was to watch the movie. Gripe #2: Why can't they decide on a standard way to present the DVD information (screen format, surround format, channels, etc.) on the outside of a DVD case? For instance, many just say Dolby Digital but not how many channels. A Christmas Story is DD but mono. Sometimes it's hard to find and be sure a DVD is widescreen. One of the DVDs I got for Christmas was labeled "Full Screen" which my Dad thought meant "Full Screen" on my 16:9 TV but actually means full screen on a standard TV. I know these aren't the end of the world but they would be so easy to fix if the DVD makers wanted to.

Harman Kardon DVD-25 progressive scan DVD player HK PA-4000 4 zone amplifier 4 keypads for multi-zone amp 2 pairs of in-wall speakers 2 Xantech IR repeaters 400 disc Sony CD changer with 2-way remote 6.5" Infinity component set for the car 12 DVDs - Ice Age, Toy Story 1&2, Back to the Future Box Set, Goldmember, Sixth Sense, Beauty and the Beast (for the kid), Grease (for the wife), Hoosiers, and something else I can't remember . It was a good Christmas.

The DVD50 is supposed to have an excellent progressive scan output. As for the Wolfson chip it's the D/A converter. Wolfson is a relatively small IC maker in the UK. The people at Mark Levinson (another Harman division) got very excited about their D/As a few years ago and it seems to have trickled down to other divisions.

I missed your previous posts on this matter but I think I understand what you're trying to do i.e. run the fan at a lower voltage to decrease noise. When the unit is powered up and you just touch the wire to the fan it gets the full 12v immediately. When the amp is powered off and you use the switch the power supply probably ramps up and the fan doesn't get enough "juice" to get it started. A little higher voltage zener may be enough to get it going.

Your best bet for answering these questions (and the ones that will follow once these are answered) is to get the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook by Vance Dickason. It's available from Parts Express (www.partsexpress.com). It will step you through the whole speaker and crossover design process. The book is very good, pretty easy to understand and is a great introduction to a fun hobby. Good luck.

Scott, If you want to try a tube it's relatively simple. If you have the correctly calculated volumes for the ported and sealed boxes you can carry those numbers over to tube designs. As far as construction here's a rough idea of how I built mine (7 years ago). Calculate the length you need for the diameter tube you choose and cut the tube to length. You can do this by spinning the tube on a table saw or drawing a line around it and using a jigsaw. Then cut circular end caps out of MDF or plywood that fit snugly inside the tube. Cut some 1x2's (3 or 4) that are the length of the tube minus the thickness of the 2 endcaps. Glue these lengthwise on the inside of the tube - leave space at the top and bottom of the tube for the end caps. Cut holes in the top and bottom for driver, ports, terminal cup, etc. Slap the top and bottom on (you can screw it to the 1x2 braces you put in and glue it around the edges). There are details to consider like whether you want feet (probably do for the connections and/or port), how you want to finish the outside, etc. but this should get you started. BTW, there's no inherent reason a tube should sound any better or worse that a well constructed traditional box.

firejim, Where did you see and use the StageOne? I didn't know it was out on shelves yet.